High School Volleyball Player Who Announced Colts' Draft Picks Dies of Cancer

Seventeen-year-old leukemia patient Madi Moore was picked to announce the Colts' fourth- and fifth-round picks last April.

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Madi Moore, the Indiana high school volleyball player who helped announce Colts draft picks last spring, died after her battle with leukemia, her family announced Monday. She was 17.

"Around 7:30 a.m. this morning, our sweet, beautiful girl went home to be with Jesus," her mother Tera Orman posted on Facebook. "She waited for all of the immediate family to be here and took her last breath.”

Moore was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in January 2018 and declared cancer-free after a stem cell transplant last August, according to the IndyStar. However, in the ensuing months, she twice dealt with graft-versus-host disease, which occurs when a patient's body rejects the cell transplant, and it eventually caused her lungs to fail.

“Our family is devastated, but we know she is no longer in pain and is rejoicing in heaven with Jesus and all of our loved ones who went before her,” Orman said. “I want to say thank you for all of the prayers and support you have all given Madi and our family, and please know that we will forever be grateful. Love you all.”

Orman's post has received nearly 2,000 comments from wellwishers who followed Moore's story. 

In April, the Colts selected three patients from the Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health, and Moore ––along with Indianapolis cornerbacks Kenny Moore and Pierre Desir, and fellow patients Jha’Vion Shelton and Jha’Vion Shelton–– helped announced the team's fourth and fifth-round picks. Despite feeling and showing the effects of intense chemotherapy, she appeared live on the NFL Network, Colts.com and NFL Now.

"It might help inspire other kids to keep pushing," Moore told the IndyStar at the time.